Transcript for Dow Jones Average Surpasses 14,000 Mark

with a banner day on wall street, for the first time in five years wall street has cracked the 14,000 ceiling. And everyone is checking their retirement funds and asking, is tht signal that a boom is... See More

with a banner day on wall street, for the first time in five years wall street has cracked the 14,000 ceiling. And everyone is checking their retirement funds and asking, is tht signal that a boom is coming our way? Abc's david muir is here to tell us is the roller coaster ride over in. Finally over, great to see you. Every economist I talked to had a smile on their face saying we're not completely there yet but this is a huge start, housing values coming back and 401(k) COMING BACK AND DOW MORE At 14,000, not just a psychological barrier, tonight a real one. It was on the cable channels -- will we see a super close sth. Reporter: Wall street breaking a barrier, a psychological one sflf will we close above 14,000? Reporter: We did. What does that mean for the modern american family? The baby boomers nearing retirement, the parents looking to help send their kids to college one day? Many endured white knuckle days the economy tanking, debating along the way, should I keep my money in? Do I take it out? Dave ramsey travel as cross the country giving financial advice, 5 million radio listeners a week, giant voice urging boomers near the bottom of the market -- telling them keep their money in. A lot of people think if they take it out they can time the market. We were standing in the street corners screaming when everything was goi iing gown don't pull your money out, the only person that gets hurt on ai roller coaster are those that jump off. Reporter: A study says americans plan to put off retirement. This woman stayed the course, giving fitness tips to other boomers but advice her husband listened to, her own that paid dividend, keepinging their 401(k)s. He wanted to pull everything out, I hoped it would come back, we decided to leave it there and hope it would come back. Reporter: Who was right? Theoretically I was, but it's come back about 75%. Reporter: And look at this tonight, our business unit crunching number, if you had $125,000 IN A 401(k) AT THE Start of the recession, would you have watched it fall sharply, down to 61,465. But if you stuck with it, the AVERAGE 401(k) WOULD HAVE COME Back, and then some. 131,000 tonight. Rosemary well coming her own kwk kwk's come back and another number tomorrow. Today I'm 69, tomorrow if you ask me I would say 70. Reporter: Allow us to be the first to say happy birthday. Thank you very much. Happy birthday. A lot of americans nearly half aren't lucky enough to have a 401(k), STILL ONE FINANCIAL Setback away from an emergency but tonight economists say the market will help all of them, too, because confidence in the markets, spills into american stores and shopping, hopefully, leads to jobs which is the final leg to the recovery. Look to the next jobs report already. All watching. Now we go to the other big

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